An Australian research project being conducted in remote north-western Australia will provide world-first data to help address the long-term effects of alcohol misuse during pregnancy.

An overview of the Lililwan Project, published in the Lancet today, examines how the study will provide the first data from remote Australian Aboriginal communities on the effects of drinking alcohol during pregnancy, specifically the number of children born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), a range of life-long physical and developmental abnormalities.

The Lililwan Project, Australia’s first population-based FASD prevalence study, was initiated by the Aboriginal communities in the Fitzroy Valley of Western Australia in 2009.

Early data suggest that while only half the Aboriginal women involved in the research drank alcohol during pregnancy, many drank at high risk levels.